Hamlet vs. Laertes

Hamlet and Laertes are two people with almost all the same aspects in the Shakespeare's Hamlet. They both want to avenge the death of their father's and they both love Ophelia. Hamlet's and Laerte's similarities can be described in many ways but one can talk about the main ones: being the love they have for Ophelia, the death of their father's and how they associate with their families.

Hamlet and Laertes share a different but deep love and concern for Ophelia. Before his leave to France, Laertes provides lengthy advice to Ophelia pertaining to her relationship with Hamlet. Laertes voices his concern of Hamlet's true intentions towards Ophelia and advices her to be some what wary of his love. Laertes tells Ophelia that Hamlet would have to marry someone of his own blood or someone of royalty "His greatness weighed, his will is not his own. For he himself is subject to his birth: He may not, as unvalued persons do, Crave for himself, as for on his choice depends the safety and health of this whole state"(Shakespeare 1997 1.3). He is saying that he has to marry someone in the royal family and if he marries a person of a non-royal background it wouldn't look appealing to the public.. Hamlet's strong love for Ophelia withers after she rejects his sanity. Hamlet's appearance decays due to the rejection of his love for Ophelia "Pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other" (Shakespeare 1997 2.1.82). The loss of Ophelia's love for Hamlet instigates Polonius into believing it has caused Hamlet to revert to insanity. Once Laertes learns of the death of his sister he is hit with sudden sadness. In the same way, Hamlet is shocked and enraged over Ophelia's death. Both Hamlet and Laertes are so profoundly distressed at the death of Ophelia they both jump into her grave and say that they want to be buried alive with her. As the r in the grave they both fight each other saying that they want to be buried with her. Hamlet says his love for Ophelia...

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...Analysis
English 12
The main theme in Hamlet is revenge. Although Hamlet and Laertes are both seeking revenge, they go about it differently. Because they are in the same situation, they can be compared to one another. Shakespeare probably created the retaliatory Laertes in order to make the reader or audience side with Hamlet, the protagonist. By comparing him to the rash Laertes, the author forces the reader to appreciate the careful thought that goes into Hamlet's every move (until towards the end when he too becomes rash).
They are both high-class males placed in strenuous positions. Without Laertes, the audience would have no one else to compare Hamlet to, other than Fortinbras, who rarely appears. Laertes is almost the standard to which Shakespeare wants his audience to compare the Prince to. Comparing the two almost intensifies their different characteristics.
The differences between Laertes and Hamlet affect a main theme of the play revenge. Both men have fathers killed, and both are seeking revenge. Hamlet, though he knows who murdered his father, hesitates to take direct action against the villain. In stark contrast is Laertes, who doesn’t know who killed his father but will kill anyone on a whim. Laertes’ rashness throughout provides the play with an unlikely...

...uniqueness, style, and way of life. The audience witnesses this phenomenon in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Lord Hamlet and Laertes experienced similar childhoods, and shared similar family attributes. They were both born into royalty and throughout their lives were treated as such. Hamlet and Laertes were reared with the same forms of schooling, and were taught to abide by the same ethics and morals. Although Hamlet and Laertes seem to be "twined" with regard to family, royalty, and school, it is evident to the audience how such environmentally similar people can react so differently when faced with comparable situations. One such example arises when Hamlet and Laertes are consumed by a very basic human characteristic, that of revenge. Hamlet and Laertes, although very similar in most respects, differ in that Laertes is driven by passion and Hamlet is driven by reason.
Shakespeare exposes to his audience the similarities between Hamlet and Laertes in various instances throughout the play. It is known to the reader that Hamlet and Laertes are both sons of royalty, Hamlet being the son of the former true king of Denmark, King Hamlet, and Laertes being the son of the trusted counselor to the king, Polonius....

...Laertes and HamletLaertes and Hamlet both display impulsive reactions when angered. Once Laertes discovers his father has been murdered, he immediately assumes the slayer is Claudius. As a result of Laertes' speculation, he instinctively moves to avenge Polonius' death. "To hell, allegiance! Vows, to the blackest devil! Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit! I dare damnation: to this point I stand, that both worlds I give to negligence, let come what comes; only I'll be revenged most thoroughly for my father." (IV, v, 128-134) These lines provide insight into Laertes' mind, displaying his desire for revenge at any cost.
In contrast to Laertes' speculation of his father's killer, Hamlet presumes the individual spying on his conversation with Gertrude is Claudius: "Nay, I know not: is it the King?"(III, iv, 28). Consequently, Hamlet, consumed with rage, automatically thrusts out attempting to kill Claudius, but instead strikes Polonius. Hamlets and Laertes' imprudent actions are incited by fury and frustration. Sudden anger prompts both Hamlet and Laertes to act spontaneously, giving little thought to the consequences of their actions.
Hamlet and Laertes share a different, but deep, love and concern for Ophelia. Before his departure for...

...The Shakespearean play, Hamlet, is a story of revenge and the way the characters in the play respond to grief and the demands of loyalty. The importance of Fortinbras and Laertes in the play is an issue much discussed, analysed and critiqued. Fortinbras and Laertes are parallel characters to Hamlet, and they provide pivotal points on which to compare the actions and emotions of Hamlet throughout the play. They are also important in Hamlet as they are imperative to the plot of the play and the final resolution. Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras are three young men who are placed in similar circumstances, that is, to avenge their father's deaths. The way the each comes to terms with their grief and how they rise to the call of vengeance is one of main contrasts between the three.
Laertes is a mirror to Hamlet. Shakespeare has made them similar in many aspects to provide a greater base for comparison when avenging their respective father's deaths. Hamlet and Laertes love Ophelia. Hamlet wishes Ophelia to be his wife, Laertes loves Ophelia as a sister. Hamlet is a scholar at Wittenberg, and Laertes at France. Both are admired for their swordsmenship. Both men loved and respected their fathers, and display deviousness when plotting to avenge their father's...

...Shakespeare’s
Hamlet, Laertes a minor character in the play is needed in order to push the theme of justice. For
there to be a want in justice, there must be an injustice in the characters life, Laertes feels
betrayed by Hamlet due to the unjust deaths of the ones close to him. The character that feels he
was treated unjustly then pushes his agenda toward the denomination that he seeks to face in
order to make the individuals self, feel equal or more superior to the person that has created the
wrongful decision. Laertes wants revenge against Hamlet and Claudius for the all the pain he is
suffering. Once justice is acquired by the person seeking it they can live haply or die peacefully.
Laertes finally finds his justice and dies peacefully. In order to gain full peace form of justice
there must be an injustice.
Those who seek justice, are normally the ones that lose something, they feel will never be
brought back. Laertes’s father, Polonius is killed by Hamlet, unjustly. After Hamlets father’s
death, Hamlet begins to lose his mind and starts to act maniacal. Hamlet talking to his mother,
Gertrude in private, hears a scream, Hamlet thinking it is Claudius, reacts and accidently kills
Polonius. “Oh, I am slain” (III.Iv.25). Polonius is dead due to Hamlet, an unjust...

...Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet relays Hamlet’s quest to avenge the murder of his father, the king of Denmark. The late King Hamlet was murdered by his brother, Claudius, who took the throne and Hamlet’s mother Gertrude for himself. Hamlet is beseeched by the ghost of his father to take vengeance upon Claudius; while he swears to do so, the prince inexplicably delays killing Claudius for months on end. Hamlet’s feeble attempt to first confirm his uncle’s guilt with a play that recounts the murder and his botched excuses for not killing Claudius when the opportunity arises serve as testimony to Hamlet’s true self. Hamlet is riddled with doubt towards the validity of the ghost and his own ability to carry out the act necessary to avenge his father. His depression and feigned insanity both serve as impairments to his mental health and sense of judgment, which all impede his ability to focus on his goal. Laertes, the son of Claudius’s royal advisor Polonius, serves as a direct foil to Hamlet in his response to the news of his own father’s death, and the immediate action he takes in order to avenge Polonius.
A foil character can be the complete opposite of the protagonist, or incredibly similar but for one key difference. In the case of Hamlet and Laertes, the latter applies. The likeness between the two is unmistakable through the progression of the play. The...

...1. In his play, Hamlet, William Shakespeare uses various foils to make the play more complex. These foils involve numerous characters that help to develop different relationships and conflicts. Without these foils, the relationships and conflicts would not happen, and the play could not develop. They help us to understand Hamlet[']s actions and bring diversity to the play. Polonius and Laertes are the main foils for Hamlet. Polonius shows how irrational Hamlet thinks, and Laertes shows that Hamlet must pay for his actions, even if he is royalty. This plot and conflict develop from the similarities and differences between Hamlet and the foils.
2. Why are foils required to understand and develop the play? A foil is a minor character used to help develop or understand a major character. The foil must have some similarities with the major character in order to create a link with him. A foil must also be different in order to show or distinguish something about the major character. The foil does not always have an active role. Sometimes the foil is just someone for the major character to talk to. This allows his ideas to come through to the audience without a narrator; therefore, the foil is a kind of prop to help develop the role of the major character. Without a foil, there is no one to help develop or understand the major character, [;] thus his ideas cannot be...

...their inner selves differing from their outer selves. Are the
characters in Hamlet the same on the inside as they appear to be on the outside?
The characters in William Shakespeare's Hamlet can be studied in a manner
relating to appearance versus reality. Some of these characters are Claudius,
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and Hamlet.
One character who enables us to examine the theme of appearance versus
reality is Claudius, the new King of Denmark. In Act One, Scene Two Claudius
acts as though he really cares for his brother and grieves over the elder
Hamlet's death. This is shown in his first speech addressed to his court, "and
that it us befitted/To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom/To be
contracted in one brow of woe" (Shakespeare I22-4). It is shown further on in
the same speech when he says, "our late dear brother's death" (Shakespeare
I219). However, this is not how Claudius truly feels about his brothers death,
for Claudius is the one who murders elder Hamlet. We see the proof of this in
Claudius' soliloquy when he appears to be praying; "O, my offence is rank, it
smells to heaven./It hath the primal eldest curse upon't/A brother's murder"
(Shakespeare III336-38).
Another love which Claudius fakes is the love he has towards his nephew and
stepson, Hamlet. In his first speech to his court Claudius tells...